Threats-People.

[Metroyeti]

(27 October 2012, 17:22)Sichr20 Wrote: That's a pretty impressive list there, better start saving I guess. I've already got a fair bit of it sorted for the bike as I work in a bike shop. I won't be going for the folding bike though, mines nice and light enough but also sturdy and capable.

Thanks again for the list, I'll keep you guys updated on the progress

Been looling at a viking bike, they got a good reputation?

[Sichr20]

Depends what model Viking it was. The cheaper the price, the worse the spec and quality of parts. Like everything else it's better to get the best you can afford. The older Vikings had solid steel frames and with the right components would be awesome to ride and carry a load of weight. Bt they are really heavy. Find an aluminium frame, or if your rich titanium or carbon

[NorthernRaider]

Eh eck lad gone are the days of my Claude Butler wizzing me around the northern counties, Now I want something with at least a 175 cc single cyl engine to shift me about

[Sichr20]

Nah, pedal power all the way mate. Haven't gotta worry about fuel then. Although in an ideal situation mine would be thrown in the back of the van and rarely used

[Madgirl151]

Me and the kids have got specialized bikes, they are good tough bikes and lightweight too, even my little princess can ride hers and has been able to without stabilisers since just after she was 3, and I believe having a good bike goes a long way!!! Plus my ex was bike mad and some of it rubbed off lol
Bikes will be our bov if cars are out the window, am hoping to invest soon in a little trailer to attach to the back and a tow bar for the little uns bike for if she gets tired

[Prepper1]

(27 October 2012, 10:47)IB1 Wrote: Before anyone gets upset, this is aimed at prepping forums in general and not this forum in particular

The prepping world seems full of internet warriors and armchair survivalists. There are plenty of normal decent preppers as well but unfortunately too many of the others are just fantasists and full of shit. Everyone talks the talk on the internet but as soon as it involves getting off your arse and actually doing stuff, meeting up, sharing skills and stuff, no one turns up - and in a lot of cases it's because they have been talking crap all the time and dont want to be found out. I still look at forums but I stopped using them as a serious way of networking and linking up with other preppers long ago.

I find it all depressing to be honest

Don't forget not to tar everybody with the same brush.
I for example cannot afford meetups unless local to me.
I cant afford vast amounts in kit or the latest bug out bags and gear, as I have a family to cater for in everyday life.
Nowadays preppping is something that is more of a sideline in my life.
I prep to live not live to prep.
I've got my level of preparedness up to the level where it slots into everyday life fairly well, so it doesn't disrupt the tick over of the family but were ready for the shitty fan to turn.
Yes I'd love to spend vast amounts of cash on preps but that's never gonna happen.
Yep I'd love to meet everyone on the site in person but for monetary reasons, again never gonna happen.
If I have a hundred quid for example, there's always many things it needs to be spent on, ie car repairs, new clothes for the kids etc...
Prepping takes a back seat. I have the basics we need to survive, plans, a bov and a bol or three and I keep a weather eye on the news.
I have what I have and scrimp and scrape and juggle money for the rest.
thats life.

---

(27 October 2012, 14:56)IB1 Wrote: Part of the problem is that apart from the many arseholes and bs artists on prepping sites, even genuine preppers commitment varies widely and that can cause issues. Thats not saying that you have to be some big hairy arsed hardcore survivalist and everyone who isn't is just paying lip service to it, just that some people dont give it as high a priority as others so dont see the need to meet or link up.

Some people are happy just buying a couple of tins of beans and chatting about it on the internet and nothing more and good luck to them, but it does really limit the number of people who are of the same mindset as your own and who you would want to link up with either prior to or after an event.

Mind you, I can be a miserable and obnoxious bastard myself so maybe thats why i havent met up with any fellow preppers for a few years

one thing I dont understand is the constant banging on about meeting up after an event...
Whos going to compromise their security to drive, walk, swim or whatever possibly hundreds of miles over possibly hostile territory to meet up with another prepper?
Fair enough radio contact for mutual support and problem solving, keeping your spirits up etc...
but travel of any sort after an event is nearly guaranteed suicide.

[NorthernRaider]

P1 eventually people will need to meet up with others if theres so few of us left, getting in harvests of wheat, corn, apples, spuds, carrots etc will take a combined effort. Or in time you may need to travel to an RV to see a dentist or optician, or to get your shoes / boots resoled, or to barter for other stuff, You may need or have skills others have etc. what we wont have if its a bad enough event is a reliable media or coms systems so the easiest way of access the optician, leathersmith, herbalist, bowyer, etc is to all agree to gather once or twice a year at a single or regional location for a gathering. EG Summer Solstice at Glastonbury tor / Hatton Locks / angel of the North / Edinburgh castle.

Eventually north easterners will want what grows or is mined in the south west and vice versa.

---

(28 October 2012, 11:11)Prepper1 Wrote: Don't forget not to tar everybody with the same brush.
I for example cannot afford meetups unless local to me.
I cant afford vast amounts in kit or the latest bug out bags and gear, as I have a family to cater for in everyday life.

No one is doing that so why raise it?

The thread is absolutely and perfectly clear on the subject, its about the fantasists and wannabes who promise or pledge all sorts but never deliver, its not about in any way or form about the genuine limitations that affect nearly all of us.

Its the twats who will promise for a year to attend an RZ or event then just not turn up, Its the ones who say " I'm going to buy a place in the country with enough land to ber self sufficient" but 7 or 10 years later they have done nothing.

[bigpaul]

i agree with both P1 and NR, IMMEDIATELY after an event it will be suicide to travel anywhere-outside your local area-, i for one will be keeping my head down just trying to survive, i will be AVOIDING people not meeting up with them!....however, once the dust has settled(how long that takes is anyone's guess) and it is SAFER to travel then yes an RV for trading and renewing friendships would be acceptable and neccessary.

[Prepper1]

I understand what you mean N.R. and I'd like that to happen as well and I don't mean to offend anybody with any rant I have because its just that, a rant but in my humble opinion, what you describe with us all meeting up is way, way, down the line.

We'd have many many years of stress, fighting, and fending off feral gangs who don't want to work at growing their own and just want to steal, like in the book of ELI.

After all lazy bastards will survive, they wont all die off and like us wanting to band together so will they.

I'd love life to be as you say with us bartering with each other, but who's gonna make that journey first from say Bristol to Manchester or Manchester to Co. Durham?

Would you be prepared to leave the safety of your bol or home and leave your family possibly undefended to try and make a trade?

How are we supposed to band together anyway?

We don't have a location where we're all willing to meet post shtf

What if radio equipment is destroyed or damaged beyond repair or just may be unavailable.

How do we make contact then?

I know I cant now afford radio equipment, nor in all probability will I ever be able too.

What happens if the plan for radio contact post shtf doesn't or can't happen for whatever reason?

Have we got a backup plan for contact post shtf?

Does that mean because i have no radio I'm therefore excluded from our post shtf contact?

It seems all our plans for post shtf need radio contact to occur i.e. we call each other up and arrange a secure meetup.

What do we do if it cant happen?

COUNTRY LIVING

Please before anybody says I'm having a pop at anyone here I'm not I'm just just "shootin" the breeze, putting stuff out there for your delight and entertainment...

I understand that country living is at the moment secure or safer at any rate than living in a modern metropolis.
BUT if you think for one moment your gonna get left alone in the country post shtf your dreaming.

The u.k. is a depressingly small country. with the rate of immigration we are currently experiencing the situation is getting worse everyday.
There are few remote areas left in the u.k. such as the Scottish highlands on the tops of the Cairngorms etc..

If you live in the countryside you WILL see roving gangs looking for food and accommodation because in peoples minds countryside equals food. i.e. cows, sheep etc... and crops and warm cottages full of jovial friendly well fed fat farmers...

If you intend to stay hidden and safe after shtf you need to be invisible.

Possibly doing all by night and holing up in the day.

Imagine active combat whereby there's no fires allowed or cooking because it can be seen or smelt.

Imagine the crowds of people you'd draw from the refugee column passing your house if they smell any sort of food.

Can you eat cold food?

Do you have preps that you can eat cold if you have too?

Remember senses become acutely heightened during stress situations.

It'll only take ONE person to smell the food or see you with better stuff than them for the others to come and take what you have.

You may be left alone for a while whilst there's still food left in the cities, but don't forget we now work to the j.i.t. system.
So how long will that be for?

What happens in war zones when cities become uninhabitable?
Vast amounts of refugees roaming around looking for food and somewhere warm to live and food for them and their kids.

Are you invisible? if not can you become invisible?

I don't mean literally of course but have you planned to secure your property, to make your house look empty and uninviting?
Can people get up to your door and look through your windows or letterbox?
Can people passing by see inside?

Are you prepared for the armed gangs of thugs that may batter your door down looking for food and clean clothes?

Do you think they'll just take your word for it that you have no food or spare clothing?

After all why are you staying put in your house while they have to walk about?

Whats in your house that allows you to stay put but not them?

Why do you look so clean when there so dirty?

Why can you wash your clothes and not them?

Look at you with your wood burning stove pumping out clouds of smoke from the chimney that everyone for miles around can see.
They may not be so bothered in summer because it may be warm but what about winter, and store bought smokeless fuel wont be around for ever...

Have you thought about having a set of dirty refugee clothes for wearing in the day so you look no different from them?
or are you going to walk about in clean clothes all clean?

If you have to bug out when are you going to do it?
Have you planned for having to bug out through a column of refugees?

They'll be looking at you and what you've got, wanting a lift to where your going, they'll think you have somewhere to go, possibly with food and heat.

Road blocks.

what if early on roads are blocked by cars with no fuel?
After all people never park them neatly on the kerb if they run out of fuel, they'll just dump and go.
Can you move the cars blocking your way?

If your bov is full of your gear and your miles from your bol what are you going to do?

FAC armed people.
How are you going to handle them looking for food?
That takes things up a whole new level.

Do you have a plan for whats going to happen if a rogue copper with a family comes looking at you trying to use his Glock and his old authority to take what you have?

You'll only be protected in the country for so long.
Don't make the mistake of thinking "I'm in the country so I'm safe"

That seems to be a recurring thing on this and many other forums.

Preppers are preppers no matter where they live.

You are not a better prepper because you decided to live in the country.

Your ARE however a lucky bugger to have a better quality of life right now possibly lower in crime etc...

I myself was brought up in the Lincolnshire countryside and loved every minute of it.

I would return there now, but my family would not.

So are many in my shoes and cannot for many reasons move to the countryside or rural locations.

Does that then mean we should abandon our families in pursuit of a rural life?

What about people with jobs that are city bound?

Should they them move and claim dole to get a rural life?

Rural living may give you an advantage right now in the here and now but I think and this is only my personal opinion and not a go or dig of any kind, that some of our rurally living members are severely overestimating their safety come shtf.

Who's to say city dwellers will not tribe up and be better positioned come shtf?

After all the infrastructure that served so well before such as hospitals, operating theaters etc will still possibly be there and yes whilst we may not have electricity the facilities are there and may possibly be still useable.

Doctors may be around still as well ad mechanics etc...

So who knows wheres the better place to be, there are pro's and cons to both I can see.

Preppers are preppers no matter where they be, from the rural heartlands to the deserts or the sea, even the cities from which many will flee.
A prepper I was born and a prepper I will always be, we will band together one day you will see, together we will make the world what it was meant to be.

[NorthernRaider]

I love brief concise answers !!
I'll cherry pick a few bits to reply to.

Yes. RVs are WAY down the line but they still need to be planned for and more importantly it must be common knowledge of where and when. This has already been discussed on this and other forums in great depth, check the archives.

Who is going to make that journey from A to B, Well if I'm at A and the medicines or tools or essentials I need for my family are at B then I will go get them, simples.

You ask then Where are we supposed to meet, and we dont have a location where we are all willing to meet??

You obviously have not read on the indepth threads already dont on this subject, Try reading a bit first and you will see progress has been made by those of us who WANT to meet, IE Glastonbury in the SW, The Angel or the North in the NE at the solstices.

Then you get silly " How do we contact them?
We dont need the comms system we just go to the same previously agreed location at the same time each year just as the American settlers did, IE twice a year at a commonly agreed meeting place.

Then you go completely mad with

"I know I cant now afford radio equipment, nor in all probability will I ever be able too.
What happens if the plan for radio contact post shtf doesn't or can't happen for whatever reason?
Have we got a backup plan for contact post shtf?
Does that mean because i have no radio I'm therefore excluded from our post shtf contact?
It seems all our plans for post shtf need radio contact to occur i.e. we call each other up and arrange a secure meetup."

Radios have nowt to do with Rvs
You dont need radios to go to an agreed location each year for an RV!!!!!!!!.

The back up plan for meeting up after the event if you radios are available is the pre arranged RV that you are so hostile to?

Then looking at the rest of your post make me think why are you bothering with prepping you appear to see nothing but negatives in everything. Dont like RVs, cant or wont travel, dont or wont get a radio and even if you did you have no faith in them. Then if you did have a radio and it broke how do you stay in touch, and the answer is Rvs which you dont like and wont go to??

Dirty clothing clean clothing !! you have to been seen first.
Road blocks is where sheeple get trapped read the multiple threads about cross country mobility

"If your bov is full of your gear and your miles from your bol what are you going to do?"

Use my EDC gear!

Wood burning stoves produce almost no smoke when using dry fuel under 14 % moisture again discussed in great depth in the files
Enough on this I think.

Nearly every negative point or issue you have thrown up is already well discussed, debated, asessed, analised, answers sought on nearly every forum going.

I dont think theres anything on this forum that can help you to be honest.